How it all started

I recently recieved the Minolta SRT 201 as a birthday gift. Truthfully, I didn't know what I was going to do with it. I had never really been into photography and had virtually no knowledge about it. It would lay there on top of my desk as I would admire it from afar. It took me roughly a week before I got around to providing the lonely minolta with some appreciation.

My first impression was that the camera was beautifully built. It had very clear definite lines that defined all of its angles. It was quite hefty too, to say the least. As much as I enjoyed the definite lines and the vintage look, it was challenging to use. Perhaps I wasn't used to bulkiness weighing down on my shoulders. Or maybe it was the fact that I was constantly moving the aperture ring. It definitly took some getting used to.

The first handful of film rolls turned out to be all a blur. It was all just a matter of figuring it out through trial and error. The minolta manual was a great deal of help too. After the first two rolls of film it all become second nature.

What I've learned

• Good equipment is worth the price but you don't need to spend a fortune to experiment.
• Somethings can't be photographed, but by trying to do so anyway is definitely worth the while.
• Black and white photographs are much harder to produce rather than colored photographs.
• The hardest aspect of film photography is commitment.
• The more gear you have on you, the less likely you are to make a good photograph.